Sign the Petition to

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack

We, the undersigned citizens of the United States, believe
it is a blatant conflict of interest, if not outright unlawful, for the largest
recipient of federally mandated Beef Checkoff Program funds to simultaneously
sue the federal government to weaken or eliminate the widely popular country of
origin labeling (COOL) law. Therefore, we hereby petition the Secretary of
Agriculture to immediately and permanently terminate all contracts between the
National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the Beef Checkoff Program.

Signed,

Support U.S. Cattle Ranchers/Farmers

This petition closed almost 2 years ago

How this will help

Each time a cow is sold the seller must pay one dollar into
the Beef Checkoff. The seller has no control over where this mandatory fee
goes. The largest recipient of the federally mandated...

Each time a cow is sold the seller must pay one dollar into
the Beef Checkoff. The seller has no control over where this mandatory fee
goes. The largest recipient of the federally mandated Beef Checkoff Program
funds the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA). Recently, the NCBA
filed a lawsuit to eliminate or weaken COOL. It is a clear conflict of interest
for an organization funded by cattle producers to turn around and fight against
their interests and the interests of U.S. consumers. Therefore, we are petitioning
the Secretary of Agriculture to terminate all contracts between the National
Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) and the federally mandated Beef Checkoff
Program.

U.S.
livestock producers and U.S.
consumers worked together for longer than a decade to pass and implement COOL
so U.S. consumers would know
where the meat they purchase for their families was born, raised and
slaughtered; and, so those same consumers could choose to support U.S. farmers and ranchers by purchasing meat
exclusively of U.S.
origin.

The action by NCBA of receiving federally mandated Beef
Checkoff Program funds on the one hand and attacking the widely popular federal
COOL law on the other hand is at the very least a blatant conflict of interest
and very likely a violation of the law.

As citizens of the
United States, we are appalled that an organization that receives funds through
a government program is allowed to use those funds, either directly, indirectly
or by appearance, to initiate a lawsuit to attack the federal COOL law that is
widely supported by U.S. livestock producers and U.S. consumers.

We ask the Secretary of Agriculture to immediately and
permanently terminate all contracts between the NCBA and the Beef Checkoff
Program to end this obvious conflict of interest and possible unlawful activity
that directly threatens the right of every U.S. citizen to know where the meat
they purchase at retail stores for themselves and their families was born,
raised, and slaughtered.